Leads should always be followed up on in a timely manner. But this doesn’t always mean the second they are generated. Sometimes it’s best to wait.

Last week I downloaded a short eBook from a technology company. It looked like an interesting piece of thought leadership, so I printed it out with the plan of reading it on a train journey a couple of days later. Within seconds of hitting the print button, my phone rang.

An eager salesperson, who insisted he wasn’t selling anything, started asking me all sorts of question about the content of the eBook. I explained I hadn’t had time to read it yet, and still he persisted, pushing me and pushing me for more information until I became so exasperated, I terminated the call.

Note: All leads should be acknowledged straightaway. A simple automated email, thanking your prospect for their engagement and sharing a little more information, should suffice.

A Better Approach

In situations like this, the salesperson would have found me much more approachable if he had sat on his lead for a couple of days and followed up with a simple question: Have you had time to read the eBook you downloaded recently?

Regardless of my answer, he could have then followed up with the question: What are you working on at the moment?

By getting me to open up and speak, he could have ascertained whether I had a need for his product, had the budget to pay for it and had the authority to purchase (I didn’t on all three counts – so he was wasting both his and my time with the call).

Desperate Times

Jumping on this type of lead the very second it was generated and going in for the hard sell just made this person look desperate.

Note: Looking at my calendar, the call came one week before the second quarter of the year was closing – he probably was desperate, but that’s not my problem.

When Should You Contact a Lead Straightaway?

The only time a lead should be jumped on instantly is when a client has requested you contact them straightaway. Perhaps they’ve filled out a “Contact Us” form on your website, left a voice mail or sent an email.